Tyreese was dead. Him and a few others took Noah to where he lived. There was nothing left. They found severed arms and legs in the grass, some of them children, then they ran into a truck full of the torsos with the heads still attached. Ty got bit and they cut his arm off, but it was too late. The blood loss killed him. Now I'm pretty sure we're all gonna die. We had no food, no water. Rivers were all dried up. It hasn't rained for I don't even know how long. Our van ran out of gas. And the car before that did too. We've just been walking now, for miles, headed towards Washington even though Eugene lied. I'm grateful Faith hasn't cried. It wouldn't help, considering the growing herd of walkers following us. "I'm gonna head out." Daryl handed his gun to Rick. "See what I can find."
"Hey, don't be too long."
Carol nudged my arm. "Go with him, give him this. It was Beth's." Carol held out Beth's knife.
I shook my head. "You were with her on her last day, you go."
"You sure?" I nodded.
She smiled, walking after him. "I'll go with you."
"I got it."
"You gonna stop me?"
They disappeared into the woods and we kept walking.
~*~
When we came across a bridge with a deep canyon underneath, we decided to get rid of the walkers. Rick, Glenn, Michonne, Abraham, Sasha, and Maggie were luring the walkers to the edge and pushing them over or stepping out of the way so they fell. The rest of us stood at the other end of the bridge, watching them. The plan seemed to be going well. Then Sasha attacked a walker, stabbing it in the head. "Damn it, Sasha." I mumbled.
They all drew their knifes, taking the walkers out. "Luke, take her." I quickly handed Faith to Luke, running across the bridge towards Rick, who was about to get bit. Daryl came out of nowhere, ripping the walker off of him. I started stabbing other walkers, moving shoulder to shoulder with Carol.
Michonne pushed Sasha to the ground, killing the last walker. "I told you to stop." Sasha stood up, giving Michonne a death glare before she sheathed her knife and crossed the bridge.
~*~
We found a few of cars on the road, hoping we would find something. Daryl went into the woods, refusing to let me or Carol go with him. We didn't find anything but booze in the cars, so we sat by the road and waited for Daryl. Abraham drank the booze. We all jumped when Daryl came out of the woods. He sat beside me, taking Faith from my tired arms. I sighed, resting my head on his shoulder and running my fingers through Luke's hair.
"Is this all that's left, mom?" Luke asked.
I swallowed thickly. "I don't know, baby. I don't know."
Suddenly there was rustling from the woods. A pack of dogs emerged. They started growling and barking at us. We pulled our knives out, ready to defend ourselves. I jumped when Sasha shot them all without hesitation.
We ate the dogs. They were people's pets once It was horrible, and barbaric, but we had to do it. We would've died.
~*~
Daryl disappeared into the woods some time later. Abraham said he went looking for water. I knew that was a lie. I tracked him through the woods and found him by an old barn. I didn't approach immediately, watching him from the edge of the woods. He lit a cigarette, taking a few puffs.
I put a hand over my mouth when he pressed the bud to his skin and held it there, then dropped it on the ground. He started crying. I couldn't just watch anymore. I ran to him, wrapping my arms around his shoulders. Instead of pushing me away, like I expected him to, he balled his fists around my shirt, pulling my closer.
"It wasn't your fault, baby. It wasn't your fault.... It wasn't your fault..."
~*~
When we got back to the others, they were standing around a ton of water. Gallons of it. Rick handed Daryl a piece of paper. From a friend.
Daryl readied his crossbow and I pulled my gun from its holster. "What else are we gonna do?" Tara asked.
Rick was pacing, looking out into the woods. "Not this. We don't know who left it."
"If that's a trap, we already happen to be in it." Eugene was staring at the water, his mouth hung open. "But I, for one, would like to think it is indeed from a friend."
"What if it isn't?" Carol asked. "They put something in it?"
Eugene stepped forward and picked up a bottle, unscrewing the cap. "Eugene no!" I yelled.
"What are you doing, dude?" Tara asked.
"Quality assurance." He pressed the bottle to his lips and Abraham rushed forward, knocking the bottle out of his hand.
We were all quiet as Abraham backed up to where he was. "We can't." Rick asserted.
We all looked up when we heard thunder rumbling. It started raining. You could hear the collective sigh of relief over the heavy rain. I covered Faith's head with her blanket as I took her from Carols arms, putting my head back and opening my mouth. I laughed, running a hand through my hair. I looked at Luke and smiled. He was laying next to Tara and Rosita, laughing.
My smile fell when I looked at Daryl. He just stood there, his eyes on the ground. I grabbed his hand, kissing the back of it softly. "Everybody, get the bags. Anything you can find." Rick and a few others found empty bottles, setting them on the ground. Both Faith and Judith started crying as the thunder got louder and a loud clap of lightening echoed not very far away.
We all looked at the looming, dark clouds, realizing how big this storm is. "Let's keep moving." Rick ordered.
"There's a barn!" Daryl yelled over the rain.
"Where?"
~*~
A small group entered the barn to make sure it was safe, the rest of us waiting outside. When it was clear, we went inside, glad to finally be sheltered from the rain. It got dark fast, we started a fire and set blankets around the barn. There were only six of us sitting around the fire, Glenn, Michonne, Rick, Daryl, Carol and myself. Daryl tossed a few more sticks into the fire, sitting back down and wrapping an arm around my shoulders.
"I'll try." Glenn said as he repacked for the sticks.
Daryl shook his head. "No, too wet."
Rick was staring at Carl and Judith, shifting nervously. "He's gonna be okay." Carol assured him. "He bounces back. More than any of us do."
Rick looked down. "I used to feel sorry for kids that have to grow up now. In this. But I think I got it wrong. Growing up is getting used to the world. This is easier for them."
"This isn't the world." Michonne shook her head. "This isn't it."
"It might be." Glenn said as he dug his knife into the dirt. "It might."
"That's giving up." Michonne was reluctant to believe that this was all we had left, rightfully so.
"It's reality."
Rick looked around at all of us. "Until we see otherwise, this is what we have to live with." He paused for a moment. "When I was a kid...I asked my grandpa once if he ever killed any Germans in the war. He wouldn't answer. He said that was grown-up stuff, so...so I asked if the Germans ever tried to kill him. But he got real quiet. He said he was dead the minute he stepped into enemy territory. Every day he woke up and told himself, Rest In Peace. Now get up and go to war. And then after a few years of pretending he was dead...he made it out alive. That's the trick of it, I think.
"We do what we need to do and then we get to live. But no matter what we find in DC, I know we'll be okay. Because this is how we survive. We tell ourselves...that we are the walking dead."
I looked at Daryl when he shook his head. "We ain't them."
He sat up again, snapping branches to put in the fire. Rick leaned towards him. "We're not them. Hey." Daryl looked at him. "We're not."
Daryl dropped the stick and stood up. "We ain't them."
~*~
I woke up when I heard walkers snarling and stood up, seeing Daryl, Sasha and Maggie trying to keep the doors shut. I got up and ran over with the others, pushing on the door as hard as we could. There were so many. Soon we were all up against the doors, pushing and pushing, our feet digging into the dirt, babies crying barely able to be heard over the growls and the thunder.
It took everything we had to keep the door shut, it was one of the hardest things we've done, but we made it through the night. I didn't think we would, but we did.